Love, Light, and Lennon

When people think and talk baby, often times the phrase 'eat, sleep, poop' comes up. Right now? It's more like cryeatcrypoopeatcrycrysleepcry. 

When the grittier, colic-y times of parenting a newborn strike and I feel like I can't see the light at the end of the 3-month-mark tunnel (sleep deprivation is torture), I nearly always turn to John Lennon for solace and perspective. 

'Say a little prayer

that every day 

in every way

it's getting better and better.

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful

beautiful boy.' *

And as Lennon laments what a 'hard row to hoe' life can be...

 I find my perspective.

And a few moments of peace and joy in my sweet, crying-for-3-hours-straight-through-her-tummy-pain girl.

  

 

 

 

 As she offers up her first smiles to me, I'm reminded what a beautiful road it is traveling together as parent and child.

*Song 'Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)'  written/performed by John Lennon

Totally Cliche.

'Time flies when you're having fun.'

Cliches. Have you ever noticed how much we use them in everyday life?

•  To be honest...

• There's no place like home. (Hey, I live in Kansas.)

• All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. (Best horror movie EVER. If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times- Jack Nicholson is the uber-est.)

• Crack the whip.

• I beg to differ.

As the parent of a newborn and potty-training toddler, I feel like my life, in my mind, is narrated by cliches lately. In both good ways and tough ways. I find myself constantly thinking things like...

• Burning the candle and both ends.

• Comparing apples to oranges. (Lesson learning in progress: don't compare your kids.)

• With one hand tied behind my back. I'm working on turning this one into an art form, baby.

 But don't get me wrong! There are some good ones, too!

• To the victor goes the spoils.Natalie and I have been working on nighttime routines to get her used to the fact that day=light=awake; and night=dark=sleep. The little pumpkin has recently been giving me 5 to 6 hour stretches here and there as a result of our hard work. Me: Victor. Spoils: SLEEP! A to the men, sista.
• Growing like a weed. My little preemie has gone from 4 lb, 14 oz at her lowest to 9 lb, 5 oz in her short amount of time on the outside. So proud of her.
• And once again, Time flies when you're having fun. And when you're flat-out exhausted. But either way, time has really flown, and my newest baby girl is all of a sudden two months old today. 

 If I could save time in a bottle...

If only.